Spiderman: Far From Home is the technical ending to the Infinity Saga, as it manages to close off Phase Three of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in a nice, rather small-scale yet still neatly packed bow and gives us yet another entertaining superhero movie in the process. I felt thoroughly engaged in the narrative from beginning to end, interested in the characters, the plot, and especially the world-building from other MCU movies that laid the foundation for this smashing summer blockbuster.
Far From Home's cast, production quality, acting, and story are all entertaining on their own rights, but I believe this movie's main strength comes from the worldbuilding from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. While Endgame was a culmination of the MCU's build-up and character arcs, Far From Home focuses more on the aftermath of such a catastrophe? How does each individual family torn apart by the Snap reconnect, how do children, adults, and the elderly change their worldview, how do politics and society continue to function in a world where half of all life suddenly disintegrates into nothingness? Even in death, Thanos's effect is felt, as the first quarter of the movie revolves around Peter reflecting on Tony Stark's demise and the events of the 'Blip', which is the MCU word for Thanos's snap. I really enjoyed the attention to detail they gave this overarching universe, the story they crafted and how they continue to adhere to the rules of their own canon, when the writers could very well easily just ignore many of the previous events and create a host of confusing plotholes. They do their best to keep their lore prevalent, and I adore that attention to detail.
Onto the comedic intervals in the movie, which were more numerous then most MCU movies, which is saying something when movies like Guardians of the Galaxy exist in the mythos. While some of these jokes are predictable, barely a few fall flat. I found myself laughing whenever the movie wanted me to laugh for the most part, enjoying the comedy that would generate from hormonal teenagers going on a trip to Europe that's being derailed by elemental supervillains, and then further thrown into the meat grinder because Peter Parker, aka Spiderman, is among the participants of said trip.
Peter's romance with Mary Jane wasn't the most riveting part of this story, I'll say. In fact, the best parts of this movie are, in my opinion, the Mysterio illusions. The villain (who I'm about to get into) uses a series of hallucinogenic tricks and illusions to throw Peter Parker into a visual and mental daze. One particularly haunting sequence was that of a 'zombie Iron Man' resurrecting from the grave to provide a literal physical embodiment of Peter's demons and only added to the macabre terror that Mysterio was inflicting upon this superhero.
Onto Mysterio himself, he's a rather famous villain in the Spider-Man mythos, and since I'm not really educated in Spider-Man beyond the Marvel Cinematic Universe or a cartoon I watched when I was ten years old, I was interested to see how they'd introduce this baddie for the big screen. They nailed Mysterio's character, from what I know of him at least. A magician turned villain with an arsenal of tricks at his disposal. Now, relaying back to my previous point about how this film works off the canon of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Mysterio himself is another perfect example. Quentin Beck was a former employee of Tony Stark, whom stole Beck's revolutionary holographic technology and made it his own, also branding it with a less then ideal acronym (BARF). After Tony died saving the entire universe from an angry space warlord obsessed with multi-colored rocks, a cabal of his former employees that were screwed over by Stark industries banded together under Beck in a conspiracy to create a new superhero to replace Iron Man, thus gaining power and control and fooling the entire world in the process. Mysterio's gimmick is that heroes are essentially a fake institution that he seeks to take advantage of, to overshadow Iron Man's legacy. This is a perfect foil to Peter Parker, a pupil of Tony Stark whom practically idealizes him and was entrusted to his legacy, a legacy that Mysterio and his allies seek to destroy. These characteristic opposites make for an interesting dynamic, that's unfortunately short-lived. I do wish Mysterio made it past this movie and became a side antagonist or recurring villain in the next few Marvel movies, but instead he perishes after a failed attempt to deceive and kill Peter at the climax.
Another enjoyable aspect of this movie was the twist, with Talos revealing himself as Nick Fury and his wife (I forgot her name) disguising as the SHIELD agent known as Maria. The real Nick Fury is with the rest of the Skrull race, whom are developing a sort of weapon or ship, that much isn't made clear.
Oh, there's also ANOTHER twist in the first post-credits scene, where it's revealed that in his dying moments, Mysterio has managed to tarnish Spider-Man's legacy by giving out his name and face to the world, while also framing him for the illusion-drone attacks on Europe, which sets up what will likely be an epic, climatic finale to Spider-Man's MCU trilogy, a movie which I can barely contain my excitement for! Oh, and J. Jonah Jameson, Spiderman's greatest nemesis, is also now in the MCU, modernized as an Alex Jones type internet personality! THE HYPE IS REAL!
Ultimately, while Far From Home isn't exactly a breath of fresh air in the Marvel Cinematic Universe's superhero formula, it sets up an interesting and exciting third movie, while Tom Holland delivers another stellar performance as the titular hero. The side characters aren't annoying presences on screen, the villain is decent and makes for some good fight sequences, and overall, this is just a fun movie, like Venom (2018), except with an actual cohesive storyline, something Venom severely lacked. 8/10.